One of the interesting things about the Sally Hemmings story is that Jefferson took her with him to France at one point. In France, there was no slavery so she could have left him and been a free woman. Unfortunately, though, there were other factors to consider — did she speak the language? How would she survive on her own in a strange country, as an adolescent girl?

As far as the age differential — it was more common in those days. There were contemporary marriages between white men in their 40s or older and 16 or 17 year old girls. It’s a huge power imbalance in the relationship, though, and troubling, and even more so when the young girl in question is a slave and the man her master (and obviously the union in this case was not a marriage.)

Trying to put myself in her shoes… I feel only respect and admiration for Sally Hemmings. She endured something that no one should have to.

The reality is that Jefferson probably felt some affection for Hemmings, but he still exploited and used her. And she herself was the product of the sexual exploitation of her mother. How did that make her feel?

Did slaves and whites in those days fall in love? I am sure they did. But I am also sure it was a tiny fraction of the relationships based on exploitation and often violence, real or threatened. Many slave women who “willingly” had sexual relations probably did so knowing that if they didn’t seem to comply they might face violence to themselves or even worse to their children or others they loved.

What blows my mind is that a white man might have had sex with a slave, had a child by her, and then kept his own child still as a slave. How morally bankrupt does someone have to be to do that?